


living proof that the camera's lying

by CycloneRachel



Category: The Boys (TV 2019)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, One Shot, Post 2x08, Season/Series 02 Spoilers, other characters not mentioned in tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:27:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27377950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CycloneRachel/pseuds/CycloneRachel
Summary: post-finale, Maeve and Annie have a talk.
Relationships: Queen Maeve & Starlight | Annie January
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	living proof that the camera's lying

**Author's Note:**

> hey friends! so I don't know what brought this on, I just like writing for Maeve and thought that her and Starlight deserved to have a conversation after what happened in the finale. Which was great, I can't wait for season 3- but meanwhile, I hope this is good?

“You know that was bullshit, right?”

Those are Maeve’s first words to Annie, after the two of them leave the stage- once Maeve confirms that Homelander is nowhere to be found, and the press has left.

“What part?” Annie asks, because she does want to know, and if she were sitting on her couch back home, watching Homelander give a speech about a year ago, she wouldn’t have wondered at all.

Maeve stops short of rolling her eyes, as she looks at her.

“First of all, the “thanks to our heroism” bit. Stormfront definitely didn’t look neutralized after we kicked her ass, and…”

She trails off, hand absently going up and down her arm again as she looks at the floor. Annie doesn’t say anything- especially because this is the first time Maeve’s talked about what happened there, in that field. The three of them, her and Maeve and Kimiko, doing their best to make sure Stormfront went down, and stayed there- after her reputation was ruined beyond repair, of course. They hadn’t talked about that, either, or who could’ve released the information.

But if Annie knew anything about Maeve, she would guess that that was one of the only things she’d done during her career in the Seven that had been genuinely heroic- not because the cameras were watching, not for anyone other than herself. And Annie knew from experience, that it was satisfying… even for someone who didn’t see themselves as heroic anymore.

(It could’ve also just been because she, like most people, had standards- as shitty as everything was, and most people in their lives were, some people were almost universally agreed-on as evil. That was why A-Train had given her and Hughie the file she needed to expose Stormfront and take her down, after all, and after Maeve’s response when they’d asked her to help before, it would make sense for Annie to assume she was the same.

She didn’t know for sure, though, so until Maeve told her, she’d continue not being sure of her motives.

Even if there was still a small part of her that wanted to believe the best.)

“Yeah, I know.” Annie says. She isn’t sure what happened after the fight, but when Maeve had met her back at Vought Tower, she was clutching her phone so hard she could have broken it, and Homelander arrived later still, refusing to look either of them in the eyes until they had to look like a unified team for the cameras.

(Although, as she was sure people would point out, they were still a few members short of the roster their team name would indicate, and they’d have to start looking for new people soon.

But these things happened, and once they hired the next members of the Seven, they couldn’t get any worse than the last one who’d joined.

Probably.)

“And I’m sure Homelander only called us heroes because he had to. If he had his way, anyone who threatened his spotlight would be removed, and he’d be the only Supe left in the world.”

Maeve shakes her head.

“If he had his way, he’d remove everyone himself.” She corrects. “Every Supe, and your friends. As long as everyone else loved him, it would be worth it.”

“So you’re telling me to be careful?”

“You didn’t hear it from me.” Maeve answers. “But, yeah. Especially in private.”

“I could say the same to you.” Annie tells her, and instantly regrets it- Maeve looks more distant, suddenly, tensing up. She wants to comfort her, but knows that Maeve would refuse, and so settles for continuing the conversation.

“I’m not the one he accused of sabotage and conspiracy.” Maeve says. “Even though he said you’re cleared from it; he’s not going to forget.”

Annie knows that- if she was kicked out at this point, she’d be worse-off than The Deep. She wouldn’t even deserve being exiled to some middle-of-nowhere city, doing a few public appearances and wasting time in a motel in the hopes that someday, she’d be good enough for the Seven to take her back. At that point, not even the Church of the Collective would take her. She only escaped the first time because she got lucky- enough to have a very resourceful maybe-boyfriend, teaming up with another traitor who killed himself right before she was able to set herself free.

If it happened to her again… maybe she would end up like Stormfront, with Homelander on TV talking about how she violated the Seven’s trust, and how that was unacceptable.

Stormfront deserved it, though. Of course she did- and even though Homelander preached about how terrible she was in public, Annie had still seen them together, and heard them in bed. He could talk all he liked, but- just as Maeve said- he was full of bullshit, and if she wanted to make sure people saw that, she couldn’t accomplish that alone.

It would take a while, and it might end badly for everyone in the crossfire- including Butcher, and Hughie, and her and Maeve and Elena and the rest of their friends- but Stormfront’s capture would hopefully lead to people questioning Vought, and maybe someday, they’d become trapped in a lie that they couldn’t buy themselves out of.

“I’ll watch your back if you watch mine.” Annie says, finally.

Maeve snorts.

“You sure about that?” she asks.

“I know I can’t ask anyone else here.” Annie decides- even though she’s known for a while now that if she had to go to anyone in the Seven, had to trust one of them, it would be her. “Do either of us have a choice?”

She holds out her hand, and Maeve hesitates, before shaking it.

“We’re sure as hell not asking Homelander.” She says.

“Yeah.” Annie answers.

Maeve steps away, a hand again on her arm.

“And we’re not talking about this with anyone. Got it?”

She looks around like she expects the head-exploding Supe to appear and do their thing, and maybe she’s right to be cautious. Of course she is- so is Annie, for that matter.

But for right now, she feels just a little bit safer, and hopes that Maeve does too.


End file.
